The Divine Comedy – (Around the world)

Halfway along our life’s path. Lost in a dark wood.
Unable to find the right way…
PARADISO
Dear Beatrice…

It is cheaper to manufacture goods in Mexico than in any Asian country. So it would seem from the growing trend for companies to flock there, helping to drastically reduce the country’s level of unemployment to as low as 5 %, so much so Mexico is now the second biggest economy in Latin America. Just consider the fact that less than 10 years ago there were at least 8-900,000 Mexicans who illegally tried to get into the USA but that only last year 300,000 returned precisely because the work situation had improved so dramatically. According to a Brooking Institute report in 2010, more than 100,000 jobs have been created by car manufacturers. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Audi and Volkswagen have all announced expansion plans for the coming years with investments totalling more than US$10 billion. More than 1,400 Italian companies including Ferrero have also been positioning themselves in the country - all of which means you can definitely say the trend is significant. Arriba, arriba Mexico!
Purgatorio
Virgil what can be said of...


“The Italians have their third unelected PM in place. Yes, you heard me. In a so-called parliamentary “democracy” you don’t need to go to the polls and win a mandate, but it is sufficient to be the secretary of one of the main parties in order to become Prime Minister. But what difference is there from the previous one as the main party in charge is the same one? Well, to start with, the name has changed. We now have Sig. Renzi at the helm. Then his age – he is the youngest ever PM in Italian history; plus there are fewer ministers and the fact that both sexes are represented equally in government. Apart from that, the coalition is still very much the same, and despite the fact the former mayor of Florence has a broader appeal than the previous one, not much else really. In fact he is having the same problem with his own coalition, like his predecessor, no matter how fast he would like to move on with his promised reforms. Italians in the street are aware the problems facing their country are caused by the same talentless bunch of decision-makers, who create smoke screens, by changing PM every 10 months or so, which calms the masses down from time to time - but how long can this bizarre behaviour go on for? We keep wishing all the best to the ambitious mayor of Florence - now the ‘mayor of Italy’, as he now styles himself - and we want to celebrate his “achievements” by dedicating to him a sonnet written by another famous Florentine, Lorenzo de Medici, in the sincere hope the young prime minister, especially considering the six month European presidency starting in June, can really bring a new renaissance to Italy and maybe to the the rest of Europe - “The time of youth indeed is sweet. But too soon it slips away. If you’d be happy -don’t delay! Tomorrow’s ills you’ve yet to meet”
Inferno
